With his wealth, glamorous lifestyle and friends in high places, Jonathan Price probably seemed too good to be true.

Unfortunately for the women who fell for his charms, that’s exactly what he was.

The serial conman posed as a rich ‘sugar daddy’ to trap a string of professional women and fleece them for tens of thousands of pounds.

The penniless 41-year-old told his targets he was a multi-millionaire and even bragged of being friends with billionaire Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

'Callous' behaviour: Jonathan Price (left and right) told his unsuspecting victims he was a multi-millionaire with offshore accounts and was suffering from terminal cancer, Teesside Crown Court was told

He also claimed to have served in the SAS and the Parachute Regiment and boasted of owning speedboats, luxury cars and overseas property.

He used a dating website called sugardaddies.com to meet women, who were taken in by his apparently glamorous lifestyle and became his girlfriends.

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He now faces jail after pleading guilty to fraud totalling £180,000 – leaving three women and their parents without their life savings.

Price, from Darlington, told his unsuspecting targets that he had vast sums of money in offshore accounts and was suffering from terminal cancer.

The conman then wined and dined each girlfriend using the cash he got from his other victims. He even proposed to one, booking a £96,000 wedding at an exclusive hotel.

Online: The conman met a string of women on sugardaddies.com (homepage pictured) then tricked them into parting with tens of thousands of pounds

So convincing was he that his victims persuaded their elderly parents to help him out when he claimed to have encountered cash flow problems, believing he was more than capable of paying back their loans.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Price was really a penniless ‘serial’ fraudster who left a trail of victims traumatised and facing financial ruin.

He has served four prison sentences and collected seven previous convictions for dishonesty from across the UK over the past two decades.

Legal documents describe him as ‘callous’ and say ‘deception is so deeply ingrained in his mind’ that he was planning his next con while still in jail for the last.

Judge Michael Taylor said during the hearing: ‘He is as dishonest as the day is long. He is a conman first and foremost.

‘If he is hoping to pull the wool over my eyes, he’s in the wrong courtroom.’

Victim: Davina Ward, left, who was told that Price, right, had a fortune in offshore accounts

Price’s barrister, Peter Sabiston, added: ‘He is unsure because of the lies he has told what is true and what is fantasy. He does seem to lead a life of fantasy.’

When online, Price pretended to be looking for the love of his life and ironically wrote that he needed a woman who was ‘honest and trustworthy’.

His victims included Davina Ward, 32, who runs a florist business in Bournemouth, and Sarah Giles, 39, who worked as a manager at a gun retailer in London.

His third victim, a high-flying executive in her 30s who cannot be named, became his wife and was pregnant with his child when he was arrested last May.

Price produced fake bank account paperwork to convince his victims he had fortunes tucked away, providing sham security for loans he would ask them for.

Each time his web of deceit appeared to be unravelling, he would disappear, claiming to be unwell or saying he had been involved in an accident.

On one occasion after going missing, he posed as an old army mate and sent emails to one of the women saying Price was gravely ill with a brain tumour.

'Acquaintances': Jonathan Price boasted of being a friend of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky (pictured), an exiled critic of president Vladmir Putin, who was found dead last weekend

Abroad: One woman was spun what came to be a familiar yarn that Price was obscenely wealthy with funds in an offshore account in the Cayman Islands (file picture), but did not have long to live

Luxury living: While in the capital, Price was seeing a woman, having lunch in Harrods (pictured) in Knightsbridge, central London, and telling her tall tales about his vast wealth

WHAT PRICE TOLD HIS VICTIMS

He lived on south coast millionaires' island Sandbanks

He was a friend of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky

He had funds in an offshore account in the Cayman Islands

He lived in upmarket Knightsbridge, central London

He had terminal cancer

He served in the SAS and Parachute Regiment

He owned speedboats and luxury cars

During his three-year campaign of deceit, he claimed to live in Sandbanks in Dorset, which contains some of the most expensive houses in Britain, and made an offer on a £5million property.

He also boasted of being a friend of Boris Berezovsky, the exiled critic of president Vladmir Putin.

Mr Berezovsky was found dead at the weekend.

Price extracted money from his girlfriends and their families by claiming to be having trouble freeing some of his fortune from overseas accounts.

When he met Miss Ward in 2007, he claimed to have funds in an offshore account in the Cayman Islands, but said he did not have long to live.

He claimed he was using money from Miss Ward and her parents for trips to London for medical treatment.

On wheels: Price ran up huge debts on a woman's credit cards - hiring a Land Rover Discovery (file picture) and driving it to Monaco, and asking his lover to fly out to see him

THE DATING SITE LURE

The sugardaddies.com website used by Jonathan Price is just one of a growing number of novelty internet dating agencies.

It aims to attract young women in search of a wealthy older man, promising: ‘You are one step away from finding your dream Sugar Daddy.’

It targets ‘aspiring models, actresses and businesswomen’ who are ‘struggling in the early part of their career’.

The blurb reads: ‘Would you like to have a man be a provider for you? Do you just love to be taken care of and treated like a princess?’

It promises to connect these hopeful women to men who have ‘attained substantial success’ and are willing to ‘share the finer things in life’.

Men and women signing up are asked to give only their email address and personal details such as height and hobbies.

But as with other dating websites, there is little way of checking that people really are who they say they are.

But while in the capital, he was seeing Miss Giles, having lunch in Harrods and telling her the same tall tales about his vast wealth.

After ending his relationship with Miss Ward, he continued to see Miss Giles, racking up huge debts on her credit cards.

He even hired a Land Rover Discovery and drove it to Monaco, asking his lover to fly out to see him.

She declared herself bankrupt and was living like a pauper when he began seeing the third woman, who he then proposed to.

He went shopping on Bond Street for an engagement ring and booked a £96,000 wedding at the exclusive Rockliffe Hall, near Darlington.

In the end, he cancelled the couple’s extravagant wedding, leading his fiancee to believe it was because of his ill health, and they were married at Harrogate Register Office with just four guests.

Again, Price began to ‘borrow’ money from the woman and her family, but was arrested when her parents became suspicious.

He now awaits sentence for the fraud, the victims of which also included estate agents, car and boat dealers and a businessman.